[en] Since 1981, the Bavarian State Office for Environmental Protection has been operating a biomonitoring network of epiphytic mosses Hypnum cupressiforme which is located on a regular grid with distances 16 km. About 300 moss specimens are collected yearly (since 1991 every second year) at the end of the vegetation period, and the content of trace metals in the dry substance is measured. In this paper Ti, V, Cr, As, Cd, Hg, and Ph are treated in detail. The overall temporal trends of metal contents are described by quantile curves; the spatial distributions and their change over time are visualized by consecutive maps. The Ti, V, and Cr loads have not changed substantially since the early eighties, their spatial distributions show a clear gradient with high values in North-Eastern Bavaria. With respect to the As values, a similar spatial gradient has diminished, and the concentration quantiles have decreased up to 1995. For the rest of the metals, no clear and consistent spatial trends were found. Since the early eighties, Hg and Sb levels have been remaining constant, whereas Pb and Cd values have decreased. The temporal and spatial distributions of metals in Bavarian mosses indicate that the transport of metal-containing particles from adjacent areas in the North-East is the major common source for several metals; other known single emission sources are also reflected by the metal-specific maps. (author)